As millions of users demand Internet connectivity at home, work, as well as on the move, and as the array of data intensive services continues to grow, carriers are experiencing a tremendous surge in the use of mobile data. This tremendous increase in data volume is severely straining the limited available mobile telephony radio resources. The increased demand has led to the deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. LTE networks have taken some of the pressure off 3G networks, but are not sufficient to meet the increasing demand driven by increasing amounts of, e.g., High-Definition (HD) video streams and voice over LTE (VoLTE) services.
Operators are thus taking action to meet the ever-rising mobile Internet data demand, with efforts under way, e.g., to integrate a wireless local area network, such as a Wi-Fi network, into the mobile core for data offload. A Wi-Fi network's relatively low cost, relatively simple architecture and usage of non-licensed spectrum makes it an attractive data solution for mobile operators to fulfill consumers' increasing data demand. On the other hand, the openness and distributed control of Wi-Fi can result in the sacrifice of service quality and security. Notwithstanding, users still expect the same quality of experience and access to the same services regardless of access type.